You’ve hopefully heard of Google Optimize by now, Google’s integrated tool for User Experience testing. There is more to Google Optimize than simply creating and running tests however, and we’re here to help you get the most out of using Google Optimize. Here are three Google Optimise features that you might not have been aware of before.

1. Viewing Experiments In Google Analytics 

The integration between Optimize and Analytics is arguably its most popular feature, with the ability to identify segments in Analytics and transfer these across to Optimize being extremely useful when coming up with your tests. But did you know that you can view your results in Analytics as well as the Optimize interface? Try clicking “View Report in Analytics”, found at the bottom of the sidebar when viewing an experiment set-up in Optimize.

We’re big fans of being able to get a better look at the data, you might just uncover some interesting trends you didn’t think of. Viewing an experiment in Analytics gives you a lot more freedom when looking at various segments and metrics for your test. Our favourite feature is seeing a breakdown of the results by device type! You can also find this feature by going to your Behaviour report in Google Analytics, and you’ll get an option to view Experiments.

2. Previewing Device Types

Another great feature that’s important for running good optimisation tests is being able to preview your variations as they will show on different device types. This way you can make sure that your new design appears as you want it to on mobile and tablet. It’s common that your changes might not look as you’d like them to at first, so it’s really important to make sure you’re checking the different previews regularly.

We recommend looking at which device is used to view your test page most often, and creating the variation with this device in mind. You can even make changes to a variation that only appear on certain devices, giving you more control over the experiment, which is always a good thing. If you can’t get a variation as you want it to, you might want to exclude that device segment from the test.

3. Content Personalisation

When you’re not running experiments, you can use Google Optimize to improve the user experience of your website in other ways, including personalisation. There are lots of targeting options available (you can even import audience segments from Google Analytics with Optimize 360), and instead of using these to target an experiment, you can create personalisation elements on your page. You might want to tailor a webpage depending on the traffic source, age, or behaviour etc. Perhaps you’d like to provide a special offer to loyal customers when they reach a page, or reminding customers of a product in their basket if they haven’t converted within a certain amount of time. There are a huge number of options here!

One of the newest features in creating targeting rules is integration with Google Ads (currently in Beta). You can select specific Campaigns, Ad Groups, and even Keywords to decide which version of a landing page a user reaches. For example, users who searched for you through specific brand terms might reach a different version of the landing page than users searching more generally. This allows you to better personalise the content for that user, without the need to create numerous destination pages.

There are more innovative ways to get the most from Google Optimize being introduced and uncovered on a regular basis, so it’s best to keep up to date with all the latest updates and discoveries. You can do this by subscribing to the GlowMetrics blog and newsletter here.

Get The Most From Google Optimize, and Improve User Experiences

You’ll find that there are a lot of possibilities and uses of Google Optimize that you might not have been aware of before. We hope you’ll try out some of these features when optimising your site! If you’d like to know more information about UX Optimisation testing, check out our dedicated User Testing page, our Guide To Getting Started with Google Optimize, or feel free to Contact Us.